APC loses as tribunal upholds Ayade’s victory

- The tribunal has dismissed the petition filed by the APC against the reelection of Governor Ben Ayade of the PDP

- According to Justice Josiah Majebi, the allegation by the APC cannot be proven

- Majebi also added that the petitioner failed to seek redress within the legally specified 14 days allowed for complaints

The victory of Governor Ben Ayade of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has been affirmed by the Cross River governorship elections petition tribunal sitting in Calabar.

Senator John Owan-Enoh of the All Progressive Congress (APC) had argued that despite the fact that his party validly nominated him, he was wrongfully excluded by INEC from the governorship election.

But in his ruling on Thursday, September 12, Justice Josiah Majebi, chairman of the tribunal, said the petitioner failed to seek redress within the legally specified 14 days allowed for complaints.

"Any disputes within a given political party which stands election before actual election such as nomination or withdrawal or exclusion are pre-election issues. Our mandates don’t cover them. Therefore, such are ineffective grounds. We, therefore, strike them and such others out for incompetence,” he said.

Consequently, he ruled that Ayade was validly elected as governor of the state and that the allegation by the APC cannot be proven.

Meanwhile, in his reaction, Ayade said the tribunal judgement reaffirmed his victory at the March 9, 2019 governorship poll.

“As I did when I won the governorship election of March 9, by dedicating my victory to God, the great people of Cross River State and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) family, let me once again rededicate today’s tribunal verdict which explicitly reinforced the will of the people to them," he said through his special adviser on media and publicity.